In 2004, Korea was shocked by one of the country’s most horrific crimes of the 20th century, when three middle school and two high school girls were kidnapped from the city of Miryang and gang raped by more than 40 male pupils. This infuriating event, unfortunately, was only the beginning of the girls’ struggle…
The 9th London Korean Film Festival: A Hard Day Review
A Hard Day is an action- packed movie by Kim Seong- hun, which puts protagonist detective Go Geon- soo (Lee Sun-Kyun) in a tricky situation from the very first scene. Forced to skip his mother’s funeral he rushes to attend an important matter at the police station. Unfortunately, before reaching the destination, he is…
The 9th London Korean Film Festival: Pieta Review
Recently Asian films, South Korean ones in particular, have been overflowing the British film market. Having said that, there’s one remarkable director, whose specific directorial style, often criticized for the excessive brutality and misogyny, drew my attention and it always will, his name is Kim Ki-duk. The first time I came across Kim Ki-duk’s…
The 58th BFI London Film Festival: Rosewater Review
The 2009 Iranian elections saw a controversial win by leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over public favourite Mir-Hossein Mousavi which sparked protests in the streets of Iran. Working on behalf of Newsweek, Maziar Bahari travelled to Iran to report on the elections and was soon swept up in the turmoil. After filming and showing the horrors of…
The 58th BFI London Film Festival: The World of Kanako Review
“Why is everyone so obsessed with Kanako?” One character asks under duress to Kanako’s latest victim, Boku, who is desperately seeking the truth about her. Where she is? Why she is? How she is? What is she? Kanako. Kanako. Ka-na-ko. Perhaps it’s fitting then, that The World of Kanako is all about its eponymous character…
The 58th BFI London Film Festival: Silvered Water, Syria Self Portrait Review
“This is the film made of 1001 images shot by 1001 Syrian men and women and I”– Ossama Mohammed Silvered Water, Syria Self Portrait is a film by a Syrian filmmaker Ossama Mohammed, who is now living in Paris as a political refugee with his wife, and a Kurdish activist, Simav Bedirxan, who shot…
The 58th BFI London Film Festival: Hill of Freedom Review
For a film that was selected for the laugh category at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, the least you’d expect is Hill of Freedom to be funny. Instead Hong Sang-soo’s film is poorly paced with little acting or directorial merit to speak of. The film follows Mori, a Japanese man searching for his…
The 22nd Raindance Film Festival: Panic Review
Desperation can make people do crazy things – and there’s no greater demonstration of that than Sean Spencer’s Panic. With London as its backdrop, Panic is a study in urban isolation, desperation, and London’s ghost community through music journalist Andrew Deeley’s subjective lens. Influences from Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window are immediately obvious, reminiscent in Deeley…
The 22nd Raindance Film Festival: The Horses of Fukushima
On March 11th 2011 a powerful earthquake struck Japan. As a result, a giant tsunami devastated the North-East coast, where over 18,000 people lost their lives. Sadly the seismic sea wave caused horrific damage to the Fukushima nuclear reactor as well. In May 2011, it was confirmed that a serious leak was detected in one…
Gone Girl Review
In the summer of 2012, Gone Girl became one of the year’s biggest literary phenomena, coming second only to the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise. Given the book’s intriguing examination of long-term relationship dynamics, it came as no surprise that the film rights were bought by 20th Century Fox and Pacific Standard soon after the…
The 22nd Raindance Film Festival: In The Sands of Babylon Review
Raindance Film Festival, now in its 22nd year, has always had a strong legacy of showing independent films and uncovering talented filmmakers. This year’s festival brought various interesting films from all over the world, films you are unlikely to see elsewhere. The first one that caught my attention was Mohamed Al Daradji’s movie entitled In…
Japanese Animation Spotlight: Hal
Hal, Wit Studio’s first public project, is a clever and elegant depiction of grief, the nature of relationships, and the catharsis in moving on. Set in a technologically advanced and yet anachronistic society, the film briefly introduces the audience to robot Q01 before we learn of an unexpected death that separates the titular character, Hal,…
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the second instalment in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise. The film, directed by Matt Reeves, follows on a decade after the events of the first film and finds Caesar and the apes in a secluded colony near the ruins of San Francisco. Having seen no…
Fargo Review
Loosely based on the Coen Brother classic of the same name, Fargo is a dark comedy focused on the consequences of giving in to the devil. The show opens in Minnesota and follows Lester Nygaard, a self effacing man put down by those around him. Following a chance meeting with hitman Lorne Malvo, Lester’s life…
VIEW OF THE ARTS 